THE carrot of an ICC final at the County Ground in Chelmsford has been dangled in front of Guernsey after the schedule for ICC World Cricket League Division Six was released. However, due to a change of format to their previous WCL excursions with now eight teams competing in two groups for semi-final places rather than a six-team round-robin, captain Jamie Nussbaumer said that there is virtually no margin for error in Essex in September. ‘In the other format, you could lose one game, often even two, and still get one of the promotion places from winning your other games,’ said the Guernsey skipper. ‘This time you have not got that room for error and as soon as you lose one game you are hoping other teams will do you a favour. But we just want to win every game and if you do that, you don’t have to worry about those various scenarios.’
Guernsey have been drawn in Group A and will open their campaign against Fiji on Monday 7 September before facing Botswana the following day. After a rest day, they will complete their group programme against Suriname. Guernsey have faced all three nations in WCL competition before, but not for several years.
Group B comprises Cayman Islands, Vanuata, Norway and Saudi Arabia. The top two teams from both groups will progress to the semi-finals and the two winners of those last-four clashes will be promoted to WCL5 next year. ‘The semi-finals are effectively the main final for us because our aim is to get promoted and if you win a semi-final you go up. The icing on the cake would then be winning the final at the County Ground,’ Nussbaumer said. ‘We had a break straight after the European T20 Championship [in May]. We started training again at the beginning of July and we have got three fixtures in Newcastle coming up in August before a bit more training leading up to the inter-insular on 22 August. ‘We will then be focusing on the WCL, which is right at the end of our season and so slightly different to previous WCL events that have been out of season for us. Because of that you almost do not need as much training and warm-up games. Tournament cricket is pretty draining, so we will want everybody fresh for Essex.’

ICC Cricket website 5th September

Guernsey celebrate a wicket in 2014 ICC

ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division 6 will see eight teams locking horns in England, Guernsey’s James Nussbaumer, Fiji’s Josefa Rika, Botswana’s Karabo Motlhanka and Suriname’s Mohindra Boodram from Group A say their teams are excited for the tournament to begin.
During the seven-day tournament that commences on 7 September, Botswana, Fiji, Guernsey, Suriname, Cayman Islands, Norway, Saudi Arabia and Vanuatu will compete for the top two positions that will see promotion to ICC World Cricket League Division 5. ICC WCL Division 6 sees the start of the pathway to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 which is to be held in England.
Guernsey’s James Nussbaumer is excited for the tournament to begin: “It is a real honour to be able to represent your country at international level and we all thrive on the extra pressure and responsibility that this brings. The only expectation we have for ourselves is to win the tournament, we are expecting a competitive week and are very much looking forward to the challenge,”
The Guernsey squad have been preparing hard for the tournament, he continued: “We have been training solidly throughout the season and a lot of the national squad have been travelling to the UK to play in Premier League cricket in the Sussex and Hampshire leagues. Most recently we played Jersey in the inter-insular (is this correct?) 50-over fixture, which we won. We have had good preparation and feel focused ahead of ICC WCL Division 6.”
Fiji skipper, Josefa Rika believes his team have a good chance of qualifying: “Our main aim is no doubt progressing on to the next stage as it is for every other team taking part. We believe if we play to our strengths and do the little things right we will put ourselves in a good position to achieve that.
“We have had a good year in Cricket Fiji with a string of good performances and we just want to make sure we continue that form, the players are looking forward to getting on to the pitch.”
Botswana, the only African team to be competing in the tournament, is looking forward to be playing in England, says captain Karabo Motlhanka. “We are looking forward to playing competitive cricket in the famous ‘English’ conditions, most of the team haven’t been to England so everyone is very excited at the prospect.
“We have been training almost every day for the past few months and we’ve been playing preparation games at home against local teams as well as a visit from the Namibia ‘A’ side, most recently we have been playing preparation games in South Africa.”
Mohindra Boodram, Suriname’s captain is hopeful of a successful tournament: “The team has been preparing since July, this week all the squad will be at a training camp and we will be playing a preparation match against a team from Guyana. We hope to have a good tournament, gain a lot of experience and hopefully qualify for ICC WCL Division 5.

For immediate media release

Dubai, 4 March 2016

Suriname withdraws from ICC World Cricket League Division 5 following ICC player eligibility investigation

Vanuatu will take its place at the tournament in Jersey

The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced that the Surinaamse Cricket Bond (SCB) has withdrawn its team from the forthcoming ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division 5 in Jersey.

Suriname qualified for the tournament by virtue of winning the ICC WCL Division 6, held in England in September 2015. The ICC acted on information brought to its attention following this tournament and its investigation uncovered failures in the SCB’s processes relating to player residency documentation for the purposes of compliance with the ICC’s Player Eligibility Regulations.

Disciplinary charges were initiated against the SCB under the Player Eligibility Regulations in respect of a number of players who represented Suriname at the WCL Division 6. The SCB cooperated fully with the ICC’s investigations and carried out a thorough internal review.

The SCB has now accepted that it failed in its duty to ensure the provision of accurate residency information to the ICC in respect of a number of players. Further, the SCB has expressed its sincere apologies for these failures to all the participating teams at the ICC WCL Division 6, as well as to the wider cricketing community.

In light of the above, the SCB has agreed that:

Suriname will withdraw from the ICC WCL Division 5 and be relegated to WCL Americas Division 1;

It will forfeit the US$25,000 competition grant received by all ICC Members who compete in the ICC WCL Division 5; and

It will submit to a full ICC in-country inspection, including in respect of its processes, including but not limited to those relating to residency documentation and player eligibility, at an appropriate time in the future.

Prior to participating in any ICC tournaments in the future, the SCB will be required to satisfy the ICC that it has put in place robust processes for maintaining accurate residency records and ensuring the compliance of all Suriname teams with the Player Eligibility Regulations, in addition to any further requirements that may be specified by the ICC following the full in-country inspection.

The ICC has decided that, in light of the above, Vanuatu will be invited to replace Suriname in the ICC WCL Division 5. Vanuatu lost to Suriname in the semi-finals of the ICC WCL Division 6 and subsequently won its play-off match against Norway to finish in third place.

The final standings from the ICC WCL Division 6 in 2015 are therefore amended as follows:

Guernsey

Vanuatu

Norway

Fiji

Botswana

Cayman Islands

Saudi Arabia (did not compete due to failure to secure player visas

Suriname (disqualified for playing ineligible players)

Tim Anderson, ICC Head of Global Development, said “We were obviously disappointed by the shortcomings in the SCB’s procedures that were revealed by our investigation. There is inevitably an element of self-certification when it comes to determining compliance with the Player Eligibility Regulations, and for this reason the wider cricketing community needs to be able to place the utmost trust in the accuracy of information submitted by other ICC members.

“We are, however, heartened by the action the SCB have taken in confronting the issues raised and look forward to working closely with them to ensure they can resume their participation in ICC competitions in 2017.”